Scientists visit Davis Campus labs

On Friday, Engineering Director Rick Labahn led scientists from the LUX dark-matter collaboration and the Majorana Demonstrator project on an inspection of the two main caverns of the Davis Campus on the 4850 Level. 

The LUX dark-matter detector will be installed in the Davis Cavern early next year, and the Majorana Demonstrator will move into the Transition Cavern.

?This is the first time I?ve been here in months, and the progress is extraordinary,? said LUX Principal Investigator Rick Gaitskell of Brown University. He was able to stand in the center of the concrete ring that will serve as a foundation for the 250-ton water tank that will house the LUX detector itself. 

Majorana Construction Manager Reyco Henning of the University of North Carolina had never been to the Davis Campus. ?My first impression was, this space is a lot bigger than it looks in the drawings,? he said. ?I think this will be a very good location for our experiment. I?m very excited about what I?m seeing here today.?

As of today, about 90 percent of the concrete floors have been poured in the Transition Cavern, and about 40 percent of the block walls have been constructed. Contractors also have begun hanging metal ducts from the ceiling of the Transition Cavern, a project that will take two to three months.

Tomorrow contractors will pour the last floor in the Davis Cavern.